.png)
Closing The Loop: Hotel Beverage Carton Recovery — Baseline Analysis & Operational Guide
- GREEN Hospitality
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Earlier this year, GREEN Hospitality asked hotels across Hong Kong to share how used beverage cartons (UBC) are handled, stored, and disposed of in their back-of-house operations. This was part of a wider research project, From Waste to Worth: Beverage Carton Recovery in Hong Kong's Hotel F&B Sector, conducted by HKU’s Master of Social Sciences in Sustainability Leadership and Governance programme, in collaboration with GREEN Hospitality. The project set out to understand how beverage cartons, such as milk and juice cartons, are currently handled in hotel back-of-house environments, and what operational conditions would enable their recovery to improve in line with Hong Kong’s proposed Producer Responsibility Scheme. Nine international chain hotels across Hong Kong contributed to this research, with four also hosting back-of-house visits from the research team.
Today, we're sharing the outcome of that research: a practical guide for the hotel sector on setting up a UBC recovery framework, from mapping carton flow-through to measuring and reporting results.
Why Beverage Carton Waste Matters
Beverage cartons are a constant in hotel F&B operations. Milk, juice, and plant-based drinks pass through the hotel kitchens and outlets in carton packaging, day in and day out.
Yet despite being technically recyclable, very few of these cartons are actually recovered. In Hong Kong, we currently produce 67 tonnes of beverage carton waste daily, while the recovery rate sits below 1% (LegCo Panel on Environmental Affairs, 2025; Lee, 2025), well behind markets like Germany (76%) and Taiwan (57%) (Guo et al., 2024; Drink Without Waste Limited, 2025a).
The gap often comes down to a few recurring operational barriers:
Staff time or workflow pressure
Storage space limitations
Hygiene / food-safety concerns and constraints
Unclear recyclable acceptance criteria
Limited organisations / businesses with the technology to recycle beverage cartons due to their complex composite nature
When it comes to recovery, these operational barriers are not insurmountable, but a clear, practical framework is essential to successful and fruitful implementation.
A Timely Opportunity
The Producer Responsibility Scheme (PRS) on Plastic Beverage Containers and Beverage Cartons, proposed by the Hong Kong government, will bring phased recovery targets for registered beverage suppliers, bringing recovery rates from 10% to 50% over an estimated eight-year timeline (The Advisory Council on the Environment, 2025).
While the statutory responsibility falls on beverage suppliers and scheme operators, hotels will feel the effects through supplier arrangements, collection contracts, scheme operator requirements, ESG reporting expectations, and cost-sharing mechanisms. Getting ahead of this now means hotels can test new workflows and build systems before the scheme takes effect.
About the Guide
This guide is the output of a capstone project under HKU’s Master of Social Sciences in Sustainability Leadership and Governance, developed in collaboration with GREEN Hospitality.
Drawing on baseline data from nine participating international chain hotels, including back-of-house visits to four properties, this guide lays out a five-step framework for sustainable recovery of UBC:
Define Scope: Map carton flow and set recovery targets
Recover: Deploy a suitable collection method
Store: Use temperature-controlled areas to manage hygiene
Remove: Partner with recyclers for consistent collection
Measure: Track performance against GRI standards
This guide also includes a case study of a Hong Kong hotel that demonstrated that strategic UBC recovery can divert 337 kg of recyclables monthly, along with ready-to-use worksheets, and a summary checklist for setting up a UBC recovery system.
A big thank you to everyone who filled out the survey and contributed to this research. With the practical knowledge and techniques offered by the guide, you can now create a greater environmental impact by building a UBC recovery system at your premises, not only to facilitate increased UBC recycling but also to inspire others to take action.
